Chair



March 13, 1951 K. MICHAELIS 2,544,800

CHAIR Filed April 3, 1947 furniture andymore particularly to chairs.

Patented Mar. 13, 1951 UNITED STATES oirsice 7 "CHAIR. I ,iK'arl's'Michaelis, PariseFrancc Application AprilB, 1947,,Seria'l No."7 39;1,6,.0

ticularly on the mail order plan, and Which'can easily "be assembled by unskilled persons.

Itis a still further --object-of the invention to provide chairs, or the like, of particularly graceful appearance and which can be exposed to the temperatures and weather conditions of all seasons and are equally fit to be used indoors and outdoors, on the porch, roof, beach, in the garden and on board a ship.

Their most characteristic feature is that part which forms the body support proper and which, according to this invention is constituted by a thin wood panel, preferably of laminated or plywood construction, which need not exceed three-eighths of an inch in thickness, but may be as thin as three-sixteenths, and whichis curved by bending to adapt itself to some or all main curves of the human body which it comes in contact with. Thanks to this adaptation, the inherent hardness of the material is not felt by the person lying on such support to the extent of making it indispensable to cover the wood surface with a soft material, or with upholstering, although the support would not lose thereby any of its elasticity.

It has proven sufiicient for most purposes to bend the supporting panel in such manner as to make the back-supporting section and the adjoining rump-supporting section extend at a right or a slightly obtuse angle and to arrange the section, which supports the legs, at a large obtuse angle to the middle or rump-supporting section.

Owing to its thinness such panel possesses a high degree of elasticity and may be deformed elastically by the weight of the body resting thereon to the extent of adapting its form to the body contour still more closely.

All these effects are brought out to the best advantage in a combination of such a bent panel with a ground supporting structure, in which the rump-supporting*middle section of the panel is freely suspended 3 in twopoints, one -of which lies near the-waist line, the other one -at or near the hollow 'of theknees of-a-person lying'thereon.

The points, at which this-body" su-pport is suspended in the ground-supportedstructure are preferably so chosen "that the back and rumpsupporting sections sag-like a hammock. Preferably the two points of suspension lie atapproximately -the same horizontal level. Thefcot rest section "may but --need not 'be supported at its end. In a body's-upportas here "described, the-major part of the first-section (the "back rest) is free to give way resiliently according to the elasticity of the material.

While *sheet material might --be satisfactory as a substitute material in some respects, "its tendency to *become deformed andits high heat conductivity and high weight would be objectionable. Wood, being relatively rigid and a poor heat conductor, possesses all the properties required in this respect, more especially if used in laminated form. It combines light weight elasticity, more especially in the dimensions suitable for the purpose here in view.

The ground-supported structure may be made of solid wood (lumber) which may be bent 9.0- I

cording to the steamor the dry-heat bending process. Light-metal tubes or channels, cane and plastics may also be used in its construction, either by themselves or in combination with wood.

In the drawings affixed to this specification and forming part thereof, several embodiments of chairs according to this invention are illustrated diagrammatically byway of example.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in longitudinal section, of the first embodiment,

Figs. 2 and 3 are a longitudinal and a crosssection, respectively, of the second embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a vertical middle section of part of a thirdembodiment.

In the drawing, Fig. l is a side elevation, partly in longitudinal section.-of a simple embodiment comprising a ground-supported structure composed of two parallel extending frames, one of which is shown with the horizontal longitudinal member 2 connecting the two uprights I. Braces 3 secure the parts in position and four cross bars 4 connect the two frames to form a cubic skeleton frame. From the two top bars 4 is suspended the body support in the form of a plywood panel bent to a right angle. The

back rest fixed to and extending beyond the right hand cross bar 4 is the first section of the body support which together with the second section 1 fixed to the left hand cross bar 4 takes up most of the weight of the body of the user. 5

His knees are thus held near or even above the level of his waistline.

The third section or leg rest 8 is normally formed in one piece with the other sections,

but extends at an obtuse angle to the middle 10 section 1. Its free end may be reinforced and braced by a panel ll fixed to it. An arm rest 12 connecting the top ends of the uprights l is shown in dotted lines.

In a second embodiment illustrated in Figs. 2 15 H, IS, the last one serving as an abutment for the feet. The body-supporting panel 19 is fixed to the bars l5 and I1 and extends scross the bar It.

The longitudinal members I4 form armrests.

Instead of a body support formed of a single panel, I may make the first and middle sections 21 and 28 independent from and rockable relative to the third section 29 in the manner shown in Fig. 4, where the middle section 28 is fixed to a cross-bar 3| rotatably mounted between the longitudinal members 30, while the cross-bar 32, 30

which serves as an abutment for the first panelsection can be held in position at different points between extensions of the members 30, as indicated by holes 33. I am thus enabled to vary the angle, at which the first and middle sections of the body-supporting panel extend relative to the ground.

The basic forms here shown of the new chairs 4 may be varied in many ways, more especially if bent elements are used in the construction of the ground-supported structure.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the details of construction shown and described, for obvious modifications will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. Chair comprising in combination, a leg-supported substantially horizontal quadrangular frame and a curved panel suspended between opposed frame members to form an ascending backrest and ascending thigh support, the other frame members forming armrests substantially extending from the hip level to the knee level of the seated person.

2. The chair of claim 1, in which the frame member supporting the thigh support is rotatably mounted, while the opposite frame member supporting the backrest is displaceably arranged between the lateral frame members, means being provided on said lateral frame members for fixing said opposite member at different distances from said rotatable member.

KARL MICHAELIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,912,282 Krebs May 30, 1933 1,988,788 Goodman Jan. 2'7, 1935 2,215,540 Breuer Sept. 24, 1940 2,263,450 Anderson Nov. 18, 1941 2,425,884 Janssen Aug. 19, 1947 

